Pork Pie

This review may contain spoilers!

Tim Shadbolt being arrested while wearing a Tim Shadbolt mask is probably one of the best comedic moments to come out of New Zealand cinema. I would give Pork Pie a 7/10.

This film about a trio's illegal escapade from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South is a hilarious Kiwi epic that'll have you hysterics throughout most of the film, it's really refreshing for a film to use a wide variety of humour to appeal to it's audiences and not just the usual Kiwi witticisms that pepper most Kiwi comedies. The tone of the film instills a great sense of camaraderie, it's nice seeing how the main trio form bonds and friendships with one another. The cinematography looks great and captures the visual landscape of New Zealand really well; yet I'm most impressed with how well chase sequences are filmed as it's the sharpest an action oriented New Zealand film has been (excluding Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit films of course). The score for the film only adds to the intensive forward motion of this narrative, really propelling an action movie vibe; the soundtrack is also a great blend of popular and classical music with many Kiwi hits thrown in.

James Rolleston, who played Luke, is quite a passive yet honest figure throughout the course of this film; I loved how Rolleston made for quite a witty performer and really refused to be put into the stereotypical box of what a Maori person should be like onscreen. Ashleigh Cummings, who played Keira, is very entertaining as a vegan activist character; Cummings arguably plays the toughest character of the film and as such does a good job at showing a sincere young woman who drops her walls as the film moves along.

However the best performance came from Dean O'Gorman, who played Jon. O'Gorman was an absolutely brilliant protagonist for this film and tended to steal the show when he was onscreen. I liked his witty exchanges with Rolleston and Cummings, I especially loved the chemistry that existed between these three. O'Gorman is a very open performer and exposes the emotional range of his chracter throughout the feature, in this way we can see a very vulnerable and hurt young man who really wants to make amends. I loved how passionate he was towards apologising for leaving his girlfriend standing at the altar, it was great that his quest for righting a wrong was at the heart of this film.

This film really threw you into things quite quickly, characters were hastily established and the basic framework at the plot was cobbled together in the first ten minutes; the idea seemed to be to move onto the action and comedy aspects of the narrative without committing so heavily to the baggage of the story. This approach made things feel not so developed as the story moved onwards, characters and motives lacked substance and you really had to look hard to find something that was more than just your ordinary comedy film. It didn't help that there were these really awkward romance storylines playing throughout, one between Luke and Keira while the other was between Jon and Susie; as much as the storylines could have worked the dialogue felt very artificial and cringeworthy at times. The editing also had it's issues, making cuts at questionable times and not always moving to the best shot for the style of the scene.

Antonia Prebble, who played Susie, wasn't really given enough to do in the film; her relationship and chemistry with O'Gorman was poorly developed for the importance placed upon it in the film. Matt Whelan and Siobhan Marshall, who played Noah and Becca respectively, were really pushed to the background of this film; they were very much only there to push the plot onwards with their exposition heavy lines. Geraldine Brophy, who played Andy, was a nothing role given more to do in this plot than was warranted; Brophy's sudden ability to call in a squad of minis at the end of the film was a very hard to believe gimmick. Thomas Sainsbury, who played Bongo, was way too over the top and kooky even by this film's standards; I hated how there was a barrage of characters introduced in the back half of the film who were only really there to further the plot. Rima Te Wiata, who played Mrs D, had very little screen presence in this film; the few times a scene would give her some air time it felt like she was trying to hard to play up her role.